However, the French authorities hadn’t forgotten, and now the pair have been formally accused of the offence and are under investigation. If found guilty they could be banged up for three years in prison, and fined €45,000. For his part Ribery has admitted having sex with Zahia Dehar, but claimed that he has no idea that she only 16 when he started seeing her, which is what both he and Dehar said in their testimonies.

His lawyer also appears unconcerned by the case, and that for him to be found guilty ‘he would have had to know her age, which was not the case. She would have had to look like a minor, which was not the case. She would have to be claiming that she had told him she was a minor, which is not the case.’ The case, as they used to say in LA Law, continues.